Tedworth House heroes spend day with Bath Rugby

3 December 2012

Residents from Tedworth House Recovery Centre, run by Help for Heroes, which forms part of the Defence Recovery Capability, visited Bath Rugby recently as part of the on-going partnership between the Club and Help for Heroes.

A few servicemen enjoyed a tour of Farleigh House, Bath's training ground, and watched the first team being put through their paces by Head Coach Gary Gold and his coaching team in a training session, before enjoying lunch together.

This was the first in a series of planned visits between the two organisations, following an initial trip to Tedworth House by Bath Rugby Academy Director Danny Grewcock and ex-Bath player and England captain Lewis Moody in the summer.

Tedworth House provides state-of-the-art facilities for wounded troops to recover from their injuries in a relaxed, understanding and caring environment. The facility ensures that there is support for the successful transition of wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans either back into the military or civilian life.

Grewcock, who has been instrumental in organising the partnership, commented: "The group of residents at Tedworth are hugely inspiring. They have overcome life-changing physical and psychological issues and are now looking forward and working incredibly hard to achieve new goals. As individuals and as a team, there is a great deal we can learn from these guys, and we're looking forward to developing the partnership further."

Over the coming months it is planned that more wounded soldiers will be able to come and visit Farleigh, with groups of Bath players visiting Tedworth House in return to train and exchange stories with the residents.

The residents have also been invited to Bath's upcoming Amlin Challenge Cup match against Italian side Calvisano this weekend, so they can see the team in action.

Cpl Steven Ashcroft said: "As a rugby coach myself, it's been incredible to come to Bath Rugby and see behind the scenes of the game at such a high level. Sport has been instrumental in the recovery process, so I think it's great Help for Heroes and Bath Rugby are building this link."